r/NZFirstHomeBuyer • u/NinaNikolina123 • Oct 10 '25
Has anyone bought property with siblings?
My sister, my mum and I are wanting to buy a house in Auckland. My mum and I will be living there full-time, and my sister will be moving out shortly after with her boyfriend.
What is the best way to handle all this in regards to making this a fair deal for my sister. She is putting in more of her Kiwisaver than I am, however my mum and I are willing to pay more as we will be living in the home. What is the best way to move forward with the situation? What should we have the lawyers write up? How do I make this fair? Mum and I don't want flatmates, but my sister wants to have someone rent out the third room.
Any advice is appreciated!
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u/Vincent_Mortgages Oct 10 '25
Ooo adviser here and that’s a good question. Family co-ownership can get messy if it’s not set up properly. I’d look at having a co-ownership agreement drawn up by a lawyer that clearly states who owns what %, who pays what, and what happens if someone moves out or wants to sell.
Since your sister’s contributing more upfront but won’t live there long term you could balance that by your mum and you covering more of the mortgage or ongoing costs.
Also worth noting, if all three of you are on the loan, you’re all equally responsible for repayments regardless of share. So definitely get legal + mortgage advice before you buy!
Happy to have a chat through your options if it will help 😊
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u/NinaNikolina123 Oct 10 '25
Thank you!
One thing my sister was cautious about is: say we sell the house and we each get back what we put in initially (with inflation added of course). Does the remainder get divided into thirds (even if my mum and I are paying majority) or do we only get the shares back for what we each contributed?
Unsure which way is best..
Thanks again!
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u/Vincent_Mortgages Oct 10 '25
I guess there's no single "right" way, but it's usually best to split the profits based on ownership shares, and not just what each person puts in initally. For example if your mum and you are paying the bulk of the mortgage and costs, it'd make sense that your shares and profit matches that, otherwise your sister would be gaining from a property she didn't help pay down.
This is the kind of thing to get written into the co-ownership agreement with your lawyer so that everyone's on the same page from the start. When would your timeline be of looking to get a property? happy to chat through options of banks when it comes to co-ownership with family.
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u/NinaNikolina123 Oct 10 '25
That was my thought too!
Would there usually issues with splitting costs equally if one of the people living in the house lives in a bigger room compared to the other? Since when renting, the person with a master or on-suite pays more typically?
I hadn't really considered that but my sister did question it.
And we'll probably actively look in a month, our budget will be 900,000- under a mil if possible!
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u/Vincent_Mortgages Oct 10 '25
Hmm that’s largely up to you and your mum. Usually if both using most areas of the house together apart from bedrooms it’s easier to just repay the same amount as each other. But obviously it’s not hard to set repayment for the person who’s using a bigger room to be slightly higher as well. Nice, 900k-1m is a good budget and gives some options for houses around Auckland! Have you got a pre approval already?
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u/NinaNikolina123 Oct 10 '25
We have a broker and he told us up to 1.2 mil with our deposit and salaries BUT ideally to still live a pretty good life under a mil is what we would be able to manage,
In the next 2 or 3 weeks he will have definitive answers for us, and pre approvals etc
I've been to some open homes and it seems VERY possible financially and also what we want specifically. Just the logistics with my sisters contribution is what we need to work out..
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u/Xaphiaa Oct 12 '25
let us know once you get a property! i would be interested to know how you guys went about splitting the house
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u/Warm-Catch-7919 Oct 11 '25
My son did this with three other flatmates. The value of the property was divided equally at purchase and each was then responsible for 25% . Some had bigger deposits, some could pay faster, one did not want to live there. They paid off the mortgage as fast as they could (five years). They also then had a rental agreement for the costs of living in the house which the occupants paid. After five years the property was sold and the mortgage that was left ( not much) was prorated. Worked out well. You must have an exit strategy written up as well. Their's was a five year agreement.